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They are stunningly quiet places, our 135 national cemeteries, the final resting place for 2.3 million military veterans and family members, who sacrificed too. Even the urban cemeteries now surrounded by jammed streets and noisy corners are impressively peaceful behind curtains of trees. These tall, green sentinels numb the noise, except the sirens and horns that tell of ordinary lives progressing in normalcy because of the extraordinary sacrifices of those now departed. Like 26 others, the Los Angeles National Cemetery is full--all 85,000 plots on the 115 acres are taken, right up to the curbs.
Today is the busiest day of the year, according to those who tend the grounds, a day when the harried living feel obliged to come and remember in public, just as they do in private on other days. They will see the flags, gaily waving, that the Boy and Girl Scouts stuck in the ground, one by each grave. It’s an annual observance that began more than 130 years ago with Civil War women of both sides, united in their grief, tidying up the graves of their men. They called it simply Decoration Day.
Most days these cemeteries are empty of human life. But always they’re chock-full of memories. The aging tombstones, flush with the ground now to ease the mowing of spongy green grass, stare blankly at the sky, telling silent stories to rare passersby who pause to imagine.
Nineteenth-century gravestone shorthand was devoid of dates. Alex. Plotts’ says only: “Coffee’s Fla Vols Mex War”. L. Harrison’s says: “Co D 17 Ill Cav.”
As the years and wars wore on--Sp. Am., WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam--the markers tell more. They speak of immigration--Joe S. Mondragon near Merle L. Smith near Geo. Georgiopoulos near Pablo Rodriguez. They speak of endurance--Carshie Adams Jr. fought in three wars--World War II, Korea and Vietnam--during his 41 years of life. They speak of love--Olaf Eikrem, a sailor, married Margaret of the Coast Guard; she died at 77, he rejoined her at 92. Modern markers even speak of peacetime struggles: “Edward Morris Greenberg S Sgt USA WWII Aug 13 1922 -Dec 11 2000 POW Dad A Fighter to the End.” On this day dedicated to memorials, a fitting reminder for the living that in the end all any of us will have left to treasure, really, are memories.